


Rin's Punishment

by sialynn



Category: Free!
Genre: Budding Love, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff, New Relationship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-16
Packaged: 2018-01-03 03:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sialynn/pseuds/sialynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikoshiba Seijuurou has had a major crush on Matsuoka Gou since he first laid eyes on her, but there's one problem: her over-over-over-protective brother is on his swim team! Mikoshiba might be the captain, but that doesn't make Matsuoka Rin's shark teeth any less terrifying. Now that Rin has broken the competition rules and swum against his own team in the relays, Captain Mikoshiba has just the leverage he needs to get his chance with Gou. Now he just has to get the girl!</p>
<p>(Beginning from the almost-end of Free! Episode 12, may contain spoilers!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ask the Girl!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Italics used inside of quotation marks (like in dialogue) are for emphasis. Italics used outside of dialogue are to show a character's thoughts.

“I have a better way for you to own up to your actions,” Captain Mikoshiba announced with a wicked sort of grin. This was just the leverage he had been waiting for. “I get to ask your sister out on a date.” Rin bolted upright with a shocked and enraged look on his face.

“No! You stay the hell away from Gou!”

“Matsuoka,” Captain Mikoshiba said sternly, struggling to hold down his sly smirk. “This is your punishment for swimming against your own team.” Rin bared his unusually sharp teeth and clenched his fists.

“Is this an order, _Captain_?” Rin hissed, his unusually sharp teeth bared. Captain Mikoshiba’s courage that he had come into the conversation with was quickly fading. He hardened his expression and crossed his arms. He wouldn’t let Rin intimidate him! 

“Yes. It is.” Rin’s lethal expression faded into one of begrudging defeat. He nodded with his head hung and began walking away. He turned to face Mikoshiba again with a long finger pointed at his captain.

“But listen here, Mikoshiba,” he spoke with a tone that was unsettlingly calm. “If you lay so much as a finger on my little sister, I’ll invert your fucking face.” Mikoshiba’s unshaken facade faltered and he nodded quickly with a gulp that was more obvious than he would have liked. 

* * *

 

Haru was swimming laps in the pool before practice had even begun, and the other boys were just coming out of the locker room when Gou came running over to them, waving her arms in the air with excitement.

“I have news! Guess where we’re practicing on Thursday!” Gou shouted. Haru swam over to the nearest end of the pool to see what all the shouting was about. 

“Where?” Nagisa and Rei asked in unison. Makoto was standing behind them, waiting for Gou to spit it out.

“Samezuka!” Gou exclaimed. “Captain Mikoshiba invited us for another joint practice. It’s perfect timing, since the water here is nearly too cold to swim in.”

“The water is fine,” Haru told her, and returned to swimming his laps.

“So we’ll get to see Rin!” Nagisa punched the air and cannonballed into the pool to celebrate. 

“That’s great! I wonder if we’ll get to swim with him,” Makoto said. Rei wandered off to begin his stretching exercises and Gou tried to contain her excitement. Even after Rin got to swim with his old teammates a couple of weeks ago, he had still seemed a bit distant. She hadn’t seen him since and he barely replied to her texts, so she was eager to talk to him at practice that Thursday.

* * *

 

Captain Mikoshiba had been blatantly ignoring Rin’s glares since he’d given him his punishment, but as soon as the Iwatobi Swim Team showed up, the lethal looks would be hard to ignore. The Samezuka team was stretching and warming up on their own. It wasn’t officially time for practice to start, but there were only a couple members who didn’t arrive early each day. The doors leading in from the front of the school swung open and the red-haired beauty Mikoshiba had been pining after stepped through. He didn’t even notice the four boys following behind her.

“Gou-kun!” He called out with a broad grin, waving at her. She raised her hand to wave back, but suddenly Rin was standing directly in front of her, dripping wet.

_Did he just jump out of the pool to stand between us?_ Mikoshiba wondered, a bit irritated. Well, he could fix that easily enough.“Get back to swimming laps, Matsuoka.” 

“Gou, it’s very important that you know that Captain Mikoshiba is the biggest pervert I have ever met,” Rin said quickly and dove back into the water.

_Um, that was weird._ Gou thought. Mikoshiba was standing in front of them now. He smiled politely at the boys.

“You guys can go ahead and get warmed up. We’ll start running relay time trials soon,” he laughed and winked then. “Try not to beat my boys too bad!”

“Oh, yeah,” Makoto laughed too, a bit uncomfortably. “Thanks, Captain.” Then it was just Gou and Mikoshiba.

“So, Gou-kun,” Mikoshiba’s usual confident demeanor disappeared. He looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Gou interpreted this change in attitude as something very different from what it was.

“Oh, no! Has Rin done something? Did he get into a fight?”

“No, no!” Mikoshiba assured her, waving his hands frantically. “This isn’t about Rin.” He rubbed his neck again. “I actually sort of wanted to asked you something.” He paused and blushed. _Damn it, Seijuurou, get it together! It’s not like you’ve never asked a girl out!_ He straightened up and looked at her with intensely sincere eyes. “Could I take you out on a date?”

Gou's eyes went wide and her lips parted the slightest bit, forming a tiny "O" of surprise. Mikoshiba found this infuriatingly adorable, and his cheeks flushed red again. It felt like ages until she replied, and his nervousness only grew with every passing second. In fact he was acting so unusually, purely out of anxiety, that the Samezuka team members had begun to stare, wondering if something was wrong with their captain. Rin floated only a few feet away in the end of the pool, watching the exchange with narrowed eyes. 

"Okay," Gou agreed, with a single nod and a small smile. _Mikoshiba doesn't seem like a pervert, he seems really nice. And just look at those muscles! How could I say no?_ "I think that would be fun!" Mikoshiba visibly relaxed and an elated grin spread across his face and the rest of the swimmers continued to stretch and warm up. 

"I need to go see my team now, though. I'll talk to you again soon!" Gou giggled nervously and waved before running over to the other end of the pool where the Iwatobi boys were stretching out.

"Gou," Nagisa began. 

"It's Kou!" She corrected, as usual.

" _Gou,_ you look like you've just seen a ghost," he re-corrected her and finished his thought.

"I just said yes to a date with the Samezuka swim team captain!" She gasped. Her first date, and with Samezuka's captain-an upperclassman?? Being asked on a date felt like something she had seen on TV rather than something that just happened to her.

"Kou," Haru said quietly. Gou and the boys all looked to see what he was going to say. "Rin doesn't look happy with Mikoshiba." They looked to the opposite corner of the huge pool room, where Gou's brother and the captain were having a somewhat heated discussion. Rin was nearly shouting, but there was enough noise from all the boys in the room that Gou couldn't make out what he was saying. It was clear enough that he was shouting at Mikoshiba about her when he pointed directly at her, though. Gou bit the inside of her cheek and looked away from them to hide her embarassment. She hated Rin making a scene about this.

_I don't need him to protect me!_  She thought angrily.  _I'm not a baby. I can make my own decisions. And I'm going on this date, whether Rin wants me to or not!_


	2. The First Date... Maybe?

It was a few days later after swim practice, and Gou was waiting outside of the front entrance to Iwatobi High School. She glanced at her watch, and looked both ways down the street. Mikoshiba was nearly 20 minutes late. The boys, finally out of the locker room, passed her on their way home.

"See you tomorrow," Rei said as he and Nagisa walked past. Makoto and Haru were just walking by when Haru suddenly stopped and glanced at his own watch.

"What is it, Haru?" Makoto asked, pulling on his boyfriend's hand. Haru looked over at Gou.

"You said Captain Mikoshiba was meeting you at 4:30. It's 4:48." 

"Yeah," Gou nodded, a bit sadly. "I guess he's late."

"How long are you going to wait?" Haru asked. There was a hint of concern in his voice but his eyes held the same indifferent expression that they always did. Gou shrugged.

"We have to get home, Haru. I have to make dinner for Ren and Ran tonight," Makoto tugged on his hand again, but Haru didn't move. Haru looked around, then at his watch again.

"You can go," he said to Makoto. "I'm going to wait here with Kou." The others left, and Haru sat down on the curb and pulled out his notebook. Gou sat down next to him with a sigh. After a while, she glanced over at what he was drawing.

"Haru!" Gou exclaimed. It was a near perfect sketch of Gou and Captain Mikoshiba walking together and holding hands at a festival, with Gou in a yukata and the captain in his swimming uniform. Haru looked at the picture, then up at Gou.

"Is it not any good?"

"Well, no, it's a good drawing, but," Gou sighed again. "Why is he in his Samezuka uniform?"

"I've never seen him in anything else, so I drew him in that," Haru said with a shrug.

"What else have you drawn?" Haru handed her his notebook, which she took as permission to flip through it. There were a lot of different drawings of Makoto. Makoto laughing, swimming, smiling softly, playing with his siblings, sleeping, even one of Makoto angry. There were a few landscapes of the ocean, and near the beginning there was the sketch of the rockhopper penguin that he had drawn when the boys first wanted matching uniforms. Gou returned the book to him with a slightly forced smile. "Those are really nice, Haru."

Haru tucked the book away in his bag and started staring off into space. He wasn't much for company, but Gou was glad to have him there. It was 5:00 now. Mikoshiba was a half an hour late.

* * *

Mikoshiba did a quick check in the mirror to make sure he was ready for his date. His hair was perfectly spiked, his black t-shirt was freshly washed, he'd even ironed it.He looked down at his watch. 4:00, perfect! If he left now he would be about ten minutes early. He didn't want to make Gou wait for him. He slung his bag over his shoulder and went to leave.

"What the hell?" He muttered, pulling at the door.  _Is it locked?_ He double checked the locks and tried again, but the knob wouldn't budge. He tried lifting the door off of it's hinges. He searched for his roommate's screwdriver to take off the hinges and doorknob, but it was missing. He finally peered through the peephole to find a pointed smirk waiting for him.

"You know what I realized this morning, Captain?" Rin chuckled.

"Open this door, Matsuoka!" Mikoshiba ordered. Rin just laughed again.

"You only said I had to let you ask Gou out on a date. You never said I had to let the date actually happen. So, I just switched out the lock on your door," Rin dangled a key in front of the peep hole then walked across the hall and back into his own room.

"Agh!" Mikoshiba angled his shoulder down and threw his weight into the door.  _I can't miss this! I might not get another chance with her!_  

He spent a half an hour throwing his body against the door, even running from across the room to collide with it, until he was exhausted and his left arm and shoulder were mottled with black bruises. He resigned to sulking on his bed and running through the contacts on his phone, cursing himself for not getting her number earlier. Every once in a while he would try the door again, but it was useless. Whatever Rin had done to the lock had completely trapped him inside. For a while, he considered escaping out the window, but his dorm was on the 3rd story of Samezuka academy and there was nothing for him to climb down or jump onto besides the unforgiving concrete below. It would be a real bummer of a date if he showed up with a broken ankle.

"Hey, Seijuurou, didn't you have a date or something today?" Mikoshiba's roommate, Atsuo, came in the door.

"You got the door open?" Mikoshiba stared at him in awe. 

"Uh, yeah, easily. What's up with you? Why are you still- Woah!" Mikoshiba threw his bag over his shoulder again and sprinted down the hall.

"It's only 5, she might still be waiting for me!" He shouted back over his shoulder.

* * *

Haru set down the leaf he had been examining for the past ten minutes and checked his watch.

"Kou," he said. She looked at him, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "It's 5:15. Captain Mikoshiba is 40 minutes late."

"I know," she replied quietly. Haru stood up, picking up his own and Gou's bags. He held out a hand to her.

"Come on, you can come over to Makoto's with me."

* * *

His feet pounded on the pavement and heavy breaths rushed in and out of his mouth as he sprinted down the last street before he would reach Iwatobi High.

 _She will be there. She has to be there!_ He skidded around the corner, his sneakers leaving long black streaks on the pavemnt, and stopped cold. 

"No," he breathed. "No, she's not here.  _Damn!_ " He dropped to his knees, both in frustration and exhaustion. He looked at his watch, it was 5:20. She had probably been gone for ages by now. He sat there for a while, fuming at himself and at Rin. 

"I'm sorry I wasn't here, Gou-kun. But I promise," Mikoshiba swore to the air over his head. "I will make it up to you!"


	3. The Apology

It was nice of Makoto to let Gou hang out with him and Haru, but being around a couple really didn't make her feel any better about being stood up. The boys were playing video games, and they had a rule that whoever won got to kiss the loser. So basically they were kissing every five minutes. It was disgustingly, infuriatingly adorable. Gou silently picked up her things and headed for the door.

"Kou," Haru noticed her leaving and called out--well, very quietly saying her named was his way of calling out.

"You're leaving?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah, I just remembered I have some homework to do tonight. So I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow!" She forced a smile and left quickly.

"Oh, goodnight!" Makoto called after her, but she was already gone.

* * *

Miksohiba sat on the floor in the hall just outside of his dorm, bouncing a tennis ball off of the door across from his. He did this for ten minutes before Nitori poked his head out into the hall.

"Um, excuse me Captain, could you please stop doing that? It's 1 in the morning... Please?"

"Nope!" Mikoshiba shook his head and bounced it off of the dor again, just to prove his point. Nitori ducked back inside, but didn't shut the door all of the way.

"Senpai, he says he isn't going to stop," Nitori reported back to Rin. Mikoshiba grinned and bounced the ball off the door extra hard for emphasis.

"For fuck's sake!" Rin came storming out and stole the ball out of Mikoshiba's hand. Mikoshiba quickly pushed himself across the floor, sliding on his sweatpants and sticking his leg in Rin's door so he couldn't close it. "Cut this out, you giant child!"

"I'm not the one acting like a child, Matsuoka. Your sister can make her own decisions, it isn't up to you to decide who she dates."

"The hell it is!" Rin shouted. "You can't date her!"

"I'm going to explain the situation to her, and I'm going to get a second chance with her. If you interfere this time, I won't be so forgiving," Matsuoka's grin had faded, he was all seriousness now. "Do you understand?" Rin scowled and bared his teeth before the Captain pulled his foot out of the way and let the red-haired boy slam his door shut. Mikoshiba returned to his own room, with the now fixed lock, and went to bed. He had tried to get his point across, but he had a creeping suspicion that Rin wasn't going to back off just like that.

* * *

Gou couldn't focus in school the next day. She kept picturing Haru's sketch of her and Mikoshiba, only she imagined it to be real. She imagined holding his long-fingered hands and playing games at the festival together. She imagined the flush in his cheeks when he told her that she looked beautiful in her yukata, and she imagined the way he pushed his hair back when he laughed. 

"Gou!" Nagisa popped up in front of her. "What are we working on today?"

"Uhh," Gou looked at the three swimmers standing in front of her, waiting for instruction. Of course Haru was already in the pool. "Just, warm up and work on your times I guess." She waved them off and went to sit at the end of the pool with her feet in the water and her stopwatch in her hand. 

"Did you notice," Rei whispered to Makoto. "She didn't even tell Nagisa to call her Kou. Is she okay?"

"Well, Captain Mikoshiba sort of never showed up for their date last night," Makoto said. He whispered it as if he were confessing a dark secret.

"He what?!" Rei exclaimed, shocked. "How dare he?" Makoto shushed him frantically and Gou eyed them suspiciously. 

"Just, don't tell Nagisa." 

"I won't."

But soon after Rei promised that, Nagisa popped out of the water at Gou's feet. "Gou! You got stood up?!"

Makoto shot the most terrifying glare he could manage--which isn't very terrifying at all--in Rei's direction. Gou's lip quivered and her eyes started to water.

"It's okay, Gou!" Nagisa pulled himself out of the pool to give her an overly enthusiastic, soaking wet hug. "I'll take you on a date if you want. You're way too good for him!" Gou laughed the tears away and hugged Nagisa back.

"It's  _Kou_ , you baka! Now get back to swimming." She then said, quieter now, "and thank you."

The boys all swam hard that day, trying to cheer Gou up by improving their times. She was always happy when the team was doing well. Haru had just broken his personal best for the second time that day when he stopped dead in the water and pointed behind Gou, towards the entrance of the pool area. The other boys noticed one by one who was standing there and their faces all took on the same angry expression. Makoto was the first to climb out of the pool and approach the tall, broad-shouldered, spikey haired red head standing there. Gou still sat on the edge of the pool, watching their exchange.

"You're here to speak to Gou," Makoto stated. "I can't tell you not to talk to her, but I would recommend that you tread carefully. She is important to me, and to all of us. Now I know she doesn't need protecting, but if I see tears in her eyes again I'll be coming after whoever is responsible for putting them there."

"I understand," Mikoshiba nodded. Makoto turned back to the other boys.

"Come on, guys. We're ending practice a little early today."

"I don't want to get out of the pool," Haru said, the traces of a pout pulled at the corners of his mouth. 

"Haru," Makoto said sternly. Haru sighed and hauled himself up and out of the water, following the others to the locker room. Mikoshiba rolled up the legs of his Samezuka sweatpants and sat down next to Gou. Neither of them said anything for a long while. He didn't want to start out the conversation by talking bad about her brother, and she was waiting to hear what he had to say for himself. 

"Gou-kun, I'm really sorry about yesterday," Mikoshiba apologized with his head hung.

"You should be," she replied curtly, tossing her hair and turning away from him.

"Could I possibly, um, explain why I wasn't there?"

"It had better be a really good excuse, because I waited for you for 45 whole minutes!"

"Your brother put a new lock on my door when I was in the shower and locked me into my dorm for an hour so I couldn't come to meet you. Look," he took off his jacket and pulled up the sleeve of his orange t-shirt so she could see the bruises running across his shoulder and upper arm. "I even tried to break the door down."

Gou's fingers hovered over his bruised muscles. "You did this to yourself? To see me?"

"Well, I didn't intend to get so beat up, but basically, yeah." She sat back and rubbed her cheek, thinking. It was definitely something that Rin would do, and no one would bruise themselves like that just to sell a lie.

"Let's try again, then," Gou said, smiling up at the captain. Mikoshiba's sad puppy eyes disappeared and his usual grin returned.

"Really?" 

"Really," Gou nodded. Mikoshiba looked around, and his grin turned a bit mischeivious.

"How about right now?"

"Now?" 

"Right here, right now!" Mikoshiba pulled his shirt over his head and tossed his sweatpants aside, so he was standing next to Gou in only his speedo.

"Mikoshiba!" She averted her eyes, trying her absolute hardest not to stare at his muscles. "That's indecent!"

"You've seen me like this at every tournament and every practice, Gou-kun. I don't see how it's any different now," Mikoshiba chuckled. He jumped into the water, swimming halfway across the pool and then back to her. 

"I haven't got a suit. I don't even know how to swim. The water is freezing.." Gou suddenly had a flurry of excuses as to why she couldn't possibly get into the pool with Mikoshiba.

"Liar," he laughed. "I know for a fact Rin taught you to swim. That's fine, though. You don't have to get in. We could just talk for a while." Mikoshiba folded his arms on the edge of the pool next to Gou, and rested his chin on top of them so he could look up at her. 

"Gou-kun," he began.

"I told you not to call me that," she reminded him.

"Gou-kun," he started over. "I've told you before that you're pretty cute." She blushed and looked down and away from him. "But I don't only like you because you're cute. You're smart, I heard about how you gathered information on all of the other teams for every tournament. You're driven and determined, you raised this swim club from dust and made it successful when no one thought it would even place." Gou didn't think her cheeks could burn any more than they were now. She covered them with her hands and turned her head away from Mikoshiba. "Now that's cute!" He laughed.

"Shut up," she laughed back. He splashed a handful of water at her and she kicked a wave back. He swam away, still laughing at her. "Get back here!" She shouted, kicking more water in his direction.

"If you want to get me wet, you'll have to get in the water!"

"You're already wet, baka!" She kicked another large splash at him. 

"Heyy," Mikoshiba feigned being hurt. "That isn't very nice, Gou-kun."

"Kou!" He laughed again and swam back to her. He got out and started putting his sweats back on. He offered her a hand and helped her up. Once she was standing he didn't let go of her hand, so Gou was only inches from his chest and she could feel his pulse racing in his palm.

"There's a festival next week. If you'd let me, I would love to go with you."

"Only if you promise to show up this time," Gou said. 

"You won't have to wait a moment for me," Mikoshiba promised and squeezed her hand before letting her go. "Never again."


	4. Their First Date-Interrupted!

 

Wary of Rin's trick with the door, Mikoshiba skipped out on swimming practice and left that responsibility to Atsuo for a day. He wasn't totally abandoning his team. He'd written up a couple pages of detailed instructions, even noting specific swimmers who needed to be watched, tutored, or didn't need so much attention and could be left to their own devices. Classes at Samezuka always ended early on fridays, so Mikoshiba was back to his dorm by noon. He had showered early that morning and was now watching out the peephole, waiting for Rin and Nitori to leave for swim practice. He didn't want to run the risk of running into him in the hallway.

"Um, Seijuurou?" Atsuo was standing in the short hall to their bedroom, watching his friend with a raised eyebrow. Mikoshiba waved a hand at him to shut him up. Rin had just walked out of his room with Nitori at his heels. Rin glanced up and down the hall, then looked at Mikoshiba's door. He walked across the hall and knocked. Mikoshiba jumped out away from the door and darted into the bathroom.

"I'm not here!" He whispered. Atsuo rolled his eyes and opened the door.

"Hey, Matsuoka," Atsuo said.

"Captain here?" Rin asked shortly.

"He left a bit ago. Just a second, I'll walk down to practice with you guys." Atsuo shut the door for a second and grabbed his goggles off the bathroom counter. He shot Mikoshiba another questioning glance.

"Why are you being weird?"

"I may or not be going on a date with Matsuoka's sister tonight," Mikoshiba said, turning away to hide the flush on his cheeks. 

"He installed a new lock on our door just to trap you in here last time," Atsuo stated.

"Yeah, yeah he did."

"And you're going on a date with her anyway?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Can I give your eulogy?" 

"Shut up."

* * *

Gou sat with her legs crossed at the end of her bed with a number of dresses laid out in front of her. In the middle of them all, a yukata. It was a festival, but it was also a first date. Maybe if she was going with one of her friends she would wear the yukata, but it didn't feel appropriate for tonight. She finally settled on a sleeveless, mid-thigh length, navy blue dress with a lace peter pan collar, and a cream crossbody purse with gold stitching and gold flats. She tied her hair up in it's usual long, loose ponytail and tucked her phone and a bit of money into her purse. 

She had a knot in her stomach, like the sort she got when she wasn't fully prepared for something. She double checked everything. She didn't need to bring anything besides her phone and money, she hadn't forgotten any articles of clothing, she had made all the Iwatobi boys promise not to tell Rin when or where she was going--what else could there be? She whipped out her phone and hit the first number on her speed dial.

"Hello?" They answered.

"Makoto, I can't do this!"

"Wait, what? What are you talking about?"

"My stomach feels all funny, like I'm sick or something." There was a pause, then laughter from the other end of the line. "This isn't funny!"

"Could the feeling possibly be described as having something like, oh, I don't know, maybe, butterflies in your stomach?" He asked. Gou put a hand on her stomach and thought about this. It did feel sort of, fluttery.

"Yeah, I guess it could." Makoto laughed again.

"You're just nervous. People get butterflies in their stomach when they're about to see, or when they're with someone who they really like. I still get butterflies when I see Haru. It's okay, it's not a bad thing," he assured her.

"I don't like it!" Gou snapped. 

"You're tough, Kou. Don't let something as silly as the butterflies hold you back."

A few minutes later Gou's phone was back in her purse and she was heading out the door with a rejuvinated sense of confidence from her conversation with Makoto. It was 4:15, and she was meeting Mikoshiba at 4:30.

* * *

Rin immediately noticed that Mikoshiba wasn't at practice. He waited for a little while to see if the captain was just running late, but twenty minutes passed and he still wasn't there.

"Atsuo," Rin said. The shorter upperclassman flinched.

"Damn, Matsuoka, don't sneak up on me like that."

"Where is Captain Mikoshiba?"

""Not here," Atsuo said, avoiding Rin's scrutinizing stare.

" _Where?_ " Rin demanded.

"I, uh, well I mean, he didn't tell me exactly where, but," Atsuo stammered nervously. By now, other swim team members were not so subtly listening in on the conversation.

"Is he with my sister?"

"Um, he might, no, um, maybe?" Rin's eyes narrowed and he nodded slowly.

"Nitori," Rin shouted across the pool to his younger roommate. "We're leaving."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Atsuo said. "Practice just started!" Rin's lethal glare locked on to Atsuo again. "Or, um, I guess if you have something really important to do..." Rin nodded again, and left with Nitori running along behind him. 

* * *

"Gou-kun!" Mikoshiba shouted with a grin, waving at her from down the sidewalk. 

_Why does he have to shout that?_ She thought. "Hey, have you been waiting long?"

"Yeah," He nodded. "I got here an hour early."

"I'm sorry you waited so long! You could have let me know you were here, I would have come earlier," Gou said, almost feeling bad that he had been standing here for an hour.

"Nah, I did it on purpose," he told her. "I made you wait last time, so today I waited for you. Now we're even." Gou's stomach growled and she clapped her hands across her belly, hoping Mikoshiba hadn't heard. He did hear it, though, and he thought it was hilarious.

"Quit laughing at me!" Gou snapped.

"I'm, I'm sorry, Gou-kun," he straightened himself out and wiped a tear out of his eye.

"Kou!"

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Mikoshiba had stopped laughing and was suddenly the gentleman, gesturing towards the foot stalls at the festival. 

"Alright," Gou nodded slowly, side eyeing this unusual boy who could so quickly change his entire demeanor.

They ate grilled squid and walked around the festival, playing games and talking. Mikoshiba had been worried that the date would be awkard, but talking to Gou came easily and naturally. The only time there was a break in conversation was when their mouths were full of festival snacks. Gou had nearly not come out of nervousness, but as the night progressed she only became more and more comfortable around Mikoshiba. After a while Gou wanted a break from the overwhelming business of the festival, and Mikoshiba suggested they walk out to the pier.

"You know, Gou-kun,"

"Kou!"

"Okay," Mikoshiba nodded. "Okay, Kou."

"Really?" Gou looked surprised.

"Yeah, I think Gou is a great name, but if you really dislike it so much I'll call you whatever you want me to," he said with a shrug. 

"Well, thank you."

"So, Kou," Mikoshiba began again. "I should have said this earlier, but you look beautiful tonight."

"Oh," Gou looked down at her feet, feeling her heart quicken and her cheeks flush red under his intensely affectionate gaze.

"But, you always look beautiful."

"Stop," she muttered, embarassed. She could feel her face burning up, taking on a shade of red that could compete for brightness with Mikoshiba's spiked hair. She looked up to say something, but something over Mikoshiba's shoulder caught her eye.

"Oh my god," she gasped, her jaw hanging open.

"What?" Mikoshiba asked, worried. "Did I say something wrong?" She pointed behind him, at two boys sitting on a bench halfway down the peer, not-so-subtly peeking over the tops of their newspapers.

"My brother is here," she said. Mikoshiba's face, that had just been so gentle and kind, hardened and his intense brows slanted into a glare. "Mikoshiba?" Gou asked quietly. She wasn't happy that Rin had followed them either, but he looked furious. He saw her concern and calmed down.

"Do you mind if I, uh, if I go talk to him?" Mikoshiba asked.

"I'll come with you," Gou said. Rin saw them approaching and ducked behind the newspaper that he was holding, quite hilariously, upside down. 

"Matsuoka," Mikoshiba said, his glare had returned and his voice was cold. Rin gave up on hiding and tossed the newspaper aside. It got caught in the wind, and Nitori jumped up and ran down the pier to catch it.

"Captain," Rin said, glaring back.

"Practice ends at 6. Most of the boys take around 20 minutes to get out of the lockeroom, and it would take almost a half an hour to get from Samezuka to here. So, assuming that you left after practice, you wouldn't be here until at least 6:40," Mikoshiba paused to look at his watch. "It's 6:10. Would you care to explain to me why you left practice early?"

"Don't turn this on me, you weren't even there!"

"As the captain I am not required to attend every practice. Regular members are required to do so."

"I told you to leave Gou alone!" Rin snapped, his lips pulled back over his sharp teeth in an animalistic snarl.

"Why don't you just leave me alone?" Gou burst out. Rin's harsh glare softened and he was clearly taken aback.

"I just thought..."

"You never talk to me, you never visit me, you basically act like I don't exist, and then you try to control my life? It's none of your business who I spend my time with. It's not like you care about me anyway!" Gou shouted, tears beginning to run down her cheeks. "I hate you!" She turned on her heel and took off running down the pier, back towards the festival. 

"Kou, wait!" Mikoshiba called after her. He paused to deliver one last deadly line to Rin. "You were worried about me hurting her, right? Well it wasn't me who just made her cry."

Nitori came up next to his senpai, the crumpled newspapers clutched in his hands. Rin slumped back into the bench and shoved his fists into his pockets.

"Senpai?" Nitori asked. Rin slowly stood and began wandering back down the pier.

"Let's go home, Nitori."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up! The rest will be up faster than this.


	5. Back to Samezuka

Mikoshiba had lost sight of Gou when she ran into the festival, and he couldn't find her after that. He ran all the way to her house, and she wasn't there. He ran back to the festival and searched for her there again and still couldn't find her. He pulled out his phone and started quickly clicking through his contacts, nearly dropping it in his hurry. He finally found the number he needed and called it. No answer. He called it again. He didn't have any of the Iwatobi boy's numbers besides Makoto's, and he didn't know who else to call now. Makoto still didn't answer. Mikoshiba dialed the number again.

"Dammit, Makoto!" He cursed into the phone.

"What?" Makoto had finally picked up his phone. "What did I do?"

"I can't find Kou!" Mikoshiba shouted into the phone.

"Mikoshiba?" Makoto asked slowly.

"Yeah!"

"What do you mean you can't find her? She's a girl! How do you lose a girl?"

"We ran into her brother and then she just ran off, and I can't find her."

"Did she go-hey, mmmm! Haru, stop. No, this is more important right now. Stop it!" 

"Makoto, can you focus for a second? She isn't home, she's nowhere near the festival and she won't answer her phone. I don't know what to do, and, oh shit, well now it's raining."

"Yeah, sorry, I just,  _Haru!_ There's some fresh mackerel in the fridge, why don't you go grill that up?... Okay, he's gone. Tell me what happened with Rin."

Mikoshiba sat down on the curb while he explained it all to Makoto.

"I mean, everything was going fine and then fucking Matsuoka had to show up and try to pick a fight, so Kou shouted at him and she said she hated him and wanted him to leave her alone then she sprinted away and disappeared and I couldn't catch her. Now I don't know where she is and it's fucking raining and, ugh, I fucked up, Makoto," Mikoshiba sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

"Where are you now?" Makoto asked.

"The bus station near the festival, why?"

"Haru and I will be there in fifteen minutes. We'll help you."

* * *

Gou sat on the curb outside of Samezuka academy, her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on top of her knees. She was soaking wet from the rain and her bangs were plastered over her face but she didn't bother to brush them back into place.

 _"I hate you!"_ Had she really said that to him, to his face? She didn't really hate her brother, she was only angry. Then she had just left. She had run away without even thinking about Mikoshiba. 

 _You're so selfish._ She thought.  _Think about someone else for once, won't you? It's not always about you._

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out to check the caller ID.

 _Rin again._ It was buzzing a lot. Every few minutes either Rin or Mikoshiba would call her. She didn't want to talk to Rin at all, and she wanted to talk to Mikoshiba in person. She would wait outside of Samezuka all night if she had to.

* * *

"Where should we look?" Mikoshiba asked. Makoto rubbed his chin in thought and Haru just started walking away from them.

"Haru!" Makoto called, hurrying after him. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"You said you would help to find Kou!" Mikoshiba said, following behind them. Haru stopped, confused.

"But, I already know where she is. Why would I look for her?"

"Care to share that information?" Mikoshiba asked, a bit annoyed by Haru's obliviousness.

"She's at Samezuka," Haru told them, then continued walking back in the direction of his house. "Where else would she be?" Makoto paused, thinking again.

"That makes sense. Okay, I guess I'll be going, too."

"Wait!" Mikoshiba shouted after them. "That doesn't make sense at all!"

He walked off in the opposite direction, muttering something obscene about how the Iwatobi boys made no sense, weren't any help, etcetera, etcetera. It took him about a half an hour to get back to Samezuka, and he stopped short at the front gate.

"Kou?" He said, quietly. She lifted her head from her crossed arms and looked up at him, her eyes red and watery.

"Mikoshiba," she said. 

"Come on. You'll catch cold if you stay out here like this." He took her hand to help her up, then didn't let it go while they walked inside. With her other hand she was pushing her hair back and wiping at her eyes. In Mikoshiba's room he dug through his closet for a clean shirt and sweatpants and handed them to her. She changed in the bathroom and left her dress lying out on the floor then went to sit on the edge of Mikoshiba's bed. He sat backwards on the chair at his desk, watching her.

"I'm," Gou began, the words catching in her throat. "I'm sorry! I ruined everything!" She started crying again. She hadn't wanted to cry in front of him. Mikoshiba moved to sit next to her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and whispered into her hair.

"Shh, Kou, it's okay. You didn't ruin anything. It wasn't your fault." She turned and cried into the crook of his neck. Her hands gripped his shirt in tight fists and her tears soaked his collar. 

"I'm s-s-so-sorry!" She sobbed. Mikoshiba rubbed her back and continued speaking softly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Kou. It's okay."

"Rin thinks I hate him, I told him I hated him! Why did I do that?"

"He's your big brother. I'm sure he understands that you're just upset, he knows you don't really hate him. He just-oh, what now?" Someone was knocking on Mikoshiba's door. They weren't so much knocking as they were pounding, trying to break the door down. "Wait just a second," Mikoshiba said to Kou and went to see who was there.

* * *

Rin and Nitori were just arriving back at their room when Rin paused outside of their door. He tilted his head to listen better to the noises coming from behind Mikoshiba's door. Crying. A girl's voice. Mikoshiba's voice. More crying. Rin's face twisted up with anger and he started banging his fist on the door. 

"Oh, what now? Wait just a second." Rin could hear Mikoshiba's irritated voice from outside his room. The captain opened the door without bothering to check the peephole and Rin had pushed past him and charged into the room before he had really realized who was standing there.

"Matsuoka, what do you think you're doing?" Mikoshiba demanded angrily. Rin stood in the hall of their dorm, between the bedroom and the bathroom, taking in the scene around him. His sister's clothes on the bathroom floor. His sister sitting on Mikoshiba's bed, crying and wearing Samezuka sweats. Mikoshiba walked past Rin to stand between Gou and her brother, still demanding to know what Rin was doing. Rin jumped to a inaccurate conclusion of why Gou was crying in Mikoshiba's bed, brought his fist back, and punched the larger upperclassman so hard that it knocked him off of his feet.

Gou gasped and her hands flew to her mouth in shock. Mikoshiba looked up at Rin from his place on the floor in shock. He brought his hand up to his crooked nose and it came away dripping with blood. The shock turned to anger and he slowly stood, fists clenched. 

"Matsuoka," he growled. "Get the hell out of my room."

"What did you do to Gou? What the hell did you do to her?" Rin shouted. Gou jumped off the bed and threw herself into her brother, throwing her arms around him. He staggered back, unsure of how to react to her sudden display of affection. His arms were held awkwardly up in the air over Gou's head.

"You're so stupid," she said.

"I'm, I'm what?" 

"You're stupid. I don't hate you, but you're really really stupid. I was waiting outside of Samezuka to apologize to Mikoshiba for running off. He gave me these clothes because mine were soaked, and I was crying because I screwed everything up." She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. "Now you have to leave."

"But, Gou," Rin began.

"No. You have to leave. I like Mikoshiba, and he's nice to me, so you're not going to bother us anymore. Okay, big brother?" Gou was looking up at him so openly and honestly, that Rin didn't have the choice of refusing her.

"Okay," he finally agreed. He began walking out, pausing for just a moment in the doorway. "Don't do anything stupid, or I'll..." He trailed off with a sigh, leaving his threat unfinished as he shut the door behind him. Gou ran into the bathroom and came back with a massive handful of tissues.

"Stop tilting your head back, you need to let the blood drain," she told him.

"It's broken, isn't it?" He sounded like his nose had been plugged up with wax.

"Nooo," Gou shook her head. "It's not broken, it's just, um, sideways!"

"Broken," Mikoshiba said sadly. Gou took a firm hold on his nose, still holding tissues under it with her other hand.

"Deep breath," she ordered. 

"Wait wait wait-  _OW!_ " His hands flew up to his now straightened nose. "Fuck!"

"Don't be such a baby. I fixed it, didn't I?"

"How do you even know how to do that?"

"I'm the manager of a boys swim club. Injuries happen pretty often. Keep letting the blood drain, okay?" She gave him fresh tissues to hold under his nose. She grabbed his trash can from under his desk and shoved his between his legs so no blood would get on the floor when he tossed tissues away.

Gou sat back down on the bed next to him, crossing her legs and watching him quietly. He glanced over at her with a smirk.

"This isn't exactly your ideal first date, is it?" She laughed. 

"Not exactly," she shook her head. Her eyes were no longer brimming with tears and her voice no longer wavered. "But I'm with you, and that's good enough for me."


	6. Goodnight, Seijuurou

Mikoshiba's nose had finally stopped bleeding, but now it was swelling and purple bruises were appearing around the inner corners and underneath his eyes. Gou didn't mention this to him, she only made a big show of it being so good that he wasn't bleeding anymore.

"I can feel dried blood though. I'm gonna go wash my face real quick," he got up to go into the bathroom, and let out a strangled sort of yelp when he saw the blooming bruises on his face. "I look like I got the shit beat out of me!"

"Ohhh," Gou followed him into the bathroom, looking at his face in the mirror with him. "It's really not so bad."

"Really?" Mikoshiba asked, prodding at the bruises and wincing. 

"It's actually, erm," Gou blushed as she said this. "It's kind of hot."

" _Really?_ " He looked down at her, surprised but glad to hear those words coming from her mouth.

"Yeah, it's like, badass," she admitted, staring down at her feet. Mikoshiba's fingers gently took hold of her chin and tilted her face up. He bent down until there couldn't have been more than an inch between them. Gou thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest, and Mikoshiba thought his would melt. 

"Kou, can I," he gulped nervously. "Can I kiss you?" She answered by sliding her hand round the back of his neck and standing up on her toes to press her lips to his. When they pulled away from each other, both their cheeks were flushed a bright red. Gou threw her arms over his shoulders and kissed him again. His long fingered hands took hold of her waist and lifted her up onto the bathroom counter, and he reminded himself to thank Atsuo for cleaning it this morning. He pulled the tie out of her long red hair so it tumbled down to her waist, then he wrapped his hands in it, running them through it and pulling on it gently as they kissed. Gou's tongue darted out to run lightly along his lower lip and soon they were kissing deeper and slower, and then Gou pulled back to giggle at the small moan that escaped Mikoshiba's throat.

"Since I'm calling you Kou now, you could call me Seijuurou.." Mikoshiba suggested. Gou kissed him again then pulled back to smile up at him.

"Mmm," she hummed. "Seijuurou. Okay, I like it."

"You like it?"

"Yes, it suits you," she said with a nod. He kissed her again and she could feel him holding down a smile. Gou's hands went to his chest, his arms, his back. She was happy to explore all the muscles of his upper body through his clothes for now, but she was dying to see them up close and personal. Seijuurou kept one of his hands in her hair but the other's fingers made their way from Gou's stomach, down the outside of her thigh and back again. She giggled and pulled away when his fingers touched her stomach.

"That tickles!" She laughed, wiggling under his touch.

"Sorry, sorry," he laughed as well, but much more nervously than she did.

"Come back," one of her hands looped back around his neck and brought his parted lips back to hers. They were so absorbed in the moment that they didn't hear the door to Seijuurou's dorm room open and close, they didn't hear Atsuo clear his throat as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. They didn't actually realize he was there until he said something.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked loudly.

"Oh!" Gou exclaimed, quickly pulling her hands from under Seijuurou's shirt and moving away from him. Seijuurou's hand untangled itself from her long hair and he stepped away as well.

"Hey, Atsuo," he said meekly. "Sorry." Atsuo looked them both over for a second.

"Eh, its alright," he shrugged. "Just shoot me a text or something next time she comes back here with you."

"Next time...?" Seijuurou glanced over at Gou, hoping for confirmation that there would be a next time.

"Okay," Gou said. "I'll make sure he remembers to. Sorry about this time!" Seijuurou's flushed face broke out into a broad grin. Atsuo shook his head and headed into their bedroom, muttering something unintelligible as he walked away. Gou and Seijuurou stayed in the bathroom for a minute to talk. Gou checked her watch and sighed.

"It's nearly one in the morning. I can't go home now," she sighed and bit her lip, wondering what she would do. If she went home, her mother would know she had been with Seijuurou so late at night. If she didn't go home, her mother would assume she had stayed at her friend Chigusa's house. She told Seijuurou this, and he thought the answer was simple.

"You can stay at Chigusa's then, can't you?"

"Well, Chigusa went to the beach with her family for the weekend..."

"Oh, I see." It was just then that Atsuo reappeared in the bathroom, trash can in hand. He looked at Seijuurou's messed up face, then at the bloody tissues in the trash can.

"I only know one person who would dare to damage your pretty face," he said. "Matsuoka stopped by?"

"Uh, yeah. We worked it out, though... I think." He touched his nose gingerly. If it weren't still throbbing with pain he would have actually forgotten it was broken.

"I hope so," Atsuo set the trash can down, then looked to Gou. "Now, I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I heard something about you not having anywhere to go tonight?" Gou nodded. "Okay. You can stay here."

"I can, wait what?" She and Seijuurou followed him into their bedroom to see what he was doing. He pulled the extra blankets and a pillow out of the closet and laid them out on the floor in a makeshift bed.

"Sei will take the floor for tonight, you can take his bottom bunk, and I'll just stay in my bed on top. Problem solved." Gou and Seijuurou stared blankly at him. "What? It's not like there is any other option."

"I guess not," Seijuurou admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Thank you," Gou said. "You didn't have to do this."

"I'm not about to kick a girl as cute as yourself out into the streets," Atsuo chuckled and winked, earning himself a glare from his roomate. The boys got ready for bed and Atsuo climbed up onto the top bunk while Seijuurou slid between the blankets on the floor. Gou was lying awkwardly on his own bed. She hadn't yet worked up the courage to get under the blankets. She peeked over the edge of the bed, looking down at Seijuurou.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Yo," he whispered back.

" _Shut up and go to sleep!_ " Atsuo snapped at them. His kindness had a limit, and they were nearly there. Seijuurou rolled the other way, trying to get comfortable on the floor. It didn't take long for Atsuo to start snoring and Seijuurou to turn back and see Gou still watching him.

"Kou," he began. She put a finger on her lips and pointed up at Atsuo. Seijuurou shook his head. "Once he's out he's impossible to wake up. Don't worry."

"You don't look very comfortable down there," Gou said. Seijuurou shrugged.

"I'd rather be here and you there than the other way around."

"What if we were both up here?" Gou proposed quietly. Seijuurou's eyes went wide.

"Are you, are you sure?" She finally slid under his blankets and held them up for him. He got up and slid in with her, as quietly as he could. Atsuo waking up and finding them like this would be even more embarassing than when he had found them in the bathroom earlier. Seijuurou decided he would wait until Gou fell asleep and then move back to the floor.

They were laying on opposite sides of the bed, facing each other but not touching. It was awkward, to say the least. Gou decided, again, to make the first move. She reached out and took his hands in his, pulling him close enough to her that she could feel his body head but that they still weren't touching with the exception of her hands. Her hands forced his to lie flat with his palms together. She then rewapped her hands around and between his and laid her cheek on top of their little mess of entangled fingers.

"Goodnight, Seijuurou," she whispered, contentment in her voice. He was glad it was so dark in the room, because his face was so hot he was sure he'd never blushed brighter than he was now.

_This girl really is something special._ He thought.  _She's just, amazing._


End file.
